Swimmers Poisoned At Aqua Park

By Irina Titova

Staff Writer

Published: March 28, 2008 (Issue # 1360)

At least 75 visitors to the city’s Waterville aqua park were poisoned by chlorine in the water on Wednesday, the city’s Emergency Service said. Fifteen were hospitalized, and the attraction was temporarily closed.

Among the hospitalized were 13 children and two adults. They felt burning in their eyes and throats, and itching of the skin.

By 3 p.m. on Thursday, 162 people, including 129 children, who had visited the swimming complex near the Pribaltiiskaya Park Inn on Vasilyevsky Island had sought medical attention, Interfax reported, referring to information provided by the city’s ambulance service. At least 38 of those people, including 27 children, were taken to a hospital.

However, later Thursday only five of the children remained in hospitals, Interfax reported.

Prosecutors have opened a criminal case under Articles 236 and 238 of the criminal code (“Violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules” and “Providing a service that doesn’t correspond to safety norms”), Interfax reported.

The city’s Russian Consumers Watch or RCW have begun an inspection of the park. Samples of water for chemical and microbiological tests were taken. RCW also temporarily closed the aqua park before the results of the tests are known, RCW said on its website.

Artyom Bakonin, a laywer for one of the poisoned families, said that he would demand hundreds of thousands rubles in compensation.

Bakonin said that some of those effected vomited in the swimming pool, Interfax reported.

Meanwhile, the aquapark’s administration confirmed on its website that 25 visitors had sought medical attention on Wednesday and nine of them were hospitalized. All of those people were in satisfactory condition, it said.

“The composition of the water completely met sanitary norms. The water was tested as normal, every three hours, and no violation of norms was registered,” the website said.

The park’s doctor said that such symptoms could be the consequence of an allergic reaction to chlorine, and that only people with particular sensitivity to this chemical may have such a reaction, the website said.

The park’s administration said 2,270 people visited the park on Wednesday.

The administration also said it regretted the incident and said that it was making every possible effort to resolve the situation. It said the park would be closed all through Thursday.

Waterville is the biggest park of its kind in St. Petersburg.